Jeb Burton, Kasey Kahne both had hard hits over weekend
A separate pair of incidents at Pocono Raceway has led to plans to alter the facility's pit road wall after two drivers wrecked into it over the weekend, NASCAR Executive Vice President and Chief Racing Development Officer Steve O'Donnell told NASCAR.com on Monday.
Jeb Burton (final practice) and Kasey Kahne (Sunday's race) both got loose off Turn 3 in separate incidents, lost control of their respective vehicles and wrecked into the inside wall on pit row. Kahne's incident on Sunday knocked him out of the race, and it was almost identical to Burton's wreck -- the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet essentially followed the same tire marks that Burton had put down.
"First, it's important to look at what happened in Pocono," O'Donnell said. "Certainly it was unique with Jeb Burton, and then you saw Kasey Kahne really unbelievably follow him with same tire tracks during the event. Tom Gideon, our safety expert, was already up at Pocono drawing up some plans to look at extending the pit wall.
"With that comes some challenges. We have to make sure the drivers coming out of Turn 3 during the race, that it's a safe situation by extending the wall. We'll work with the race track. We've got to explore the angles, look at all the data we have from the race cars as well and kind of combine all that. The initial plan is ... we'll plan to extend the wall at Pocono. And certainly from there, to take a look at each one of our venues."
President and CEO of Pocono Raceway, Brandon Igdalsky, also commented on the safety procedures that came into question during the Windows 10 400.
“Our commitment to driver safety is paramount,” said Igdalsky. "We have made multiple upgrades and updates to our facility, with more safety improvements rolling out before the 2016 NASCAR season. We work hand-in-hand with NASCAR throughout the year to execute and implement these changes.
"Once NASCAR collects the data, as it pertains to the unique incidents involving Jeb Burton and Kasey Kahne from this past weekend, we will communicate with one another and develop the safest solution.”
O'Donnell also tackled the question of whether or not the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series would race at Iowa Speedway. Saturday night's NASCAR XFINITY Series event at the Rusty Wallace-designed .875-mile oval produced plenty of good racing, a thrilling conclusion ... and some drama, as well.
"Well, I think when you look at our Cup schedule right now, there's no secret that it's full," O'Donnell said. "One of the things that's unique about Iowa that we like is the ability for the XFINITY Series to go there and be the showcase event. I believe that's why you're talking about it today, seeing Ryan Blaney hold off a number of hungry competitors on a couple of green-white-checkered (finishes), really doing his job to win that event.
"We like the fact the XFINITY Series can be the showcase event. It deserves that. Iowa is a unique venue and it produces some great racing for us … and we like what we're seeing there."